DOVER — Last fall the Coe-Brown Northwood Academy girls cross country team enjoyed the best season in school history.

Today the Bears begin a legitimate run at topping the 2011 team’s success, which included a second straight Division II state title, a Meet of Champions title, and a third-place finish at the New England championships.

All divisions will run at Manchester’s Derryfield Park. Division II kicks off at 11:30 a.m. (girls ) and 12:10 p.m. (boys).

They do so with three talented returning runners (all underclassmen) and three strong freshmen.

Junior Jessie Carney and sophomores Hannah Parker and Katie Scannell helped CBNA to its landmark season in 2011. They are teamed with freshmen Elisabeth Danis, Brooke Laskowsky and Meg Scannell to give the Bears a productive thin red line on the running trails.

Senior Katelyn Terry, a JV state champs in 2011 and late season replacement at the NE meet, also figures into the mix.

“We feel really excited about the opportunity (today) to do something pretty special,” said co-coach Brent Tkaczyk. “I’m completely humbled with the talent this group has.”

Coe-Brown is ranked first in New Hampshire and in the top two in New England by MileSplitNH.com and MileSplitNE.com, respectively.

A convincing win over defending New England champ Champlain Valley, Vt., at the prestigious Woods Trail Run earlier this month in Thetford, Vt., has kept the Bears in the regional limelight.

In addition, there are five girls with sub-19-minute times in N.H. this season, and Coe-Brown has four of them.

“We have six girls on paper who can finish in the to-10,” Tkaczyk said. “We have a group of girls from three towns who have come together. We’re the healthiest we’ve been all year. We had injuries and sickness all year, but now we are fine.”

Junior Lexie Buiel, a key runner last year, contracted pneumonia during the season, and was unable to get back to the level she needed to break the current lineup.

“Sometimes life gets in the way,” said co-coach Tim Cox. “We’re going to have some very good runners sitting on the sidelines.”

Coe-Brown, per its philosophy, will embrace the team concept on the course and work together to try and earn its three peat.

“This is the most fun team we’ve coached,” Cox said. “It’s a good team and they love competing which is pretty big at this level.”

“They show up every day and crave for competition,” Tkaczyk said. “They’re working together, but they also all want that top spot.”

“For my money, (Hanover) is a team that will challenge us,” Tkaczyk said. “We’re not going to jog to win this thing. We have to run. But I’m confident in these kids. They’re ready for this race. It’s something we’ve been looking forward to.”

Other local runners to keep an eye on are St. Thomas’ Melissa Hiatt and Oyster River’s Maegan Doody.

On the boys side, Oyster River has a strong team, but is it strong enough to win its third straight D-II title? Souhegan is the top ranked team in New Hampshire and its first seven runners all have top times of 16:40 or faster.

OR has two runners with top times under 17 minutes.

Still the Bobcats, ranked second in N.H. by N.H. Running Journal (and fourth by MileSplitNH.com), have a steady five runners with Cam Barth, Thomas Caulfield, Neal Mistretta, Drew Thibault and Christian Davis.

“The kids have quite a bit of confidence going in,” said coach Greg Gephart. “One through five, the gap has been about 45 seconds, which is pretty good. They’ve been remarkably consistent,. They don’t seem to have a down meet.”

OR was undefeated during the regular season and even beat Souhegan at the Bobcat Invitational in September.

OR ran against Souhegan at a preseason jamboree and the Sabers looked good.

“At the beginning of the season I looked at Souhegan and they’re pretty far out there,” Gephart said. “But I looked at the (jamboree) times and they weren’t that far ahead of us. This is doable and two weeks later we beat them at the Bobcat.”

Coe-Brown junior Jeremy Brassard is a favorite to win the boys D-II race, and is currently the top-ranked runner in N.H., according to MileSplitNH.com.

“We’ve tried to keep him calm all week,” Cox said. “I’m not sure if we’ve been successful. He’s very fiery and very focused.”

Coe-Brown has never had an individual cross country state champ.

Other top local runners include Coe-Brown’s Lucas Fisher, Portsmouth’s Ben Finnigan and St. Thomas’ Ben Finnigan.

The Meet of Champions will be held at Nashua South on Nov. 3. Qualifications for advancing are as follows: (D-1) top eight teams and first 30 finishers; (D-II) top six teams and first 25 finishers, and (D-III) top five teams and first 23 finishers. All large from all divisions: next fastest finishers, three boys and three girls.